Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core

21 Customer ratings

4.1 / 5

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20 Reviews

Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core
£566
All prices incl. VAT
In stock
In stock

This product is in stock and can be shipped immediately.

Standard Delivery Times
Delivery free of charge expected between Wednesday, 3.04. and Thursday, 4.04.
1
C
Could be a great interface
Chaoswork 22.11.2021
I ordered mine in the beginning of June. It came with hardware bug, which Antelope agreed to be the whole revision problem. I was planning to return it to Thomann, but I've ordered it to Russia, so I paid quite a sum for customs and shipping and of course with returning it to Thomann, this expenses wouldn't be refunded. Antelope's managers suggested to replace it via another dealer in Russia with no expenses from my side, ensuring that there would be no problems with another revision. So agreed and everything was settled. That was my fault to agree with those conditions. The device came and with an additional gift from a company, Edge Solo mic and everything was perfect from the first glance. But there appeared other problems with the replacement device. I filed several tickets to Antelope's support. They suggested to replace the device again. After several arguments we settled down to replace the device with mic to a model higher, but they didn't even bother to organise it properly. They never give the insight on what is happening. They keep saying that next week it will definitely be there. And they never call you back to say that the next week nothing going to happen. You have to dig it out by yourself if you're lucky to be answered. Now they just stopped answering my calls and messages. I want a working device, I paid money for it! I don't need any gifts or upgrades from them either. Now I just want my money back, as it took already half a year! But as soon as I told that I want my money back, they disappeared. Very professional, innit? :-) I wish I just sent it back to Thomann when the 1st buggy unit came at 1st place. Thomann can't replace it now, since it was already replaced by Antelope Audio and Thomann knows nothing about this replacement.

Pity that they have such problems with testing devices and software, before releasing them. And I, as a customer had to go through all these to convince all those managers that I even don't need their gifts or upgrades to any device of a higher rank, I just want my device to work, as it fits my studio needs.
The sound from my monitors and the headphones is really great though. The guitar sounds fuller, connected to the back-ins only, cause when you connect to the front-ins you get the huge feedback as if you are sitting by a fully cranked tube amplifier. This is actually is resetable by their "golden boot", but then it returns back w/o doing anything extraordinary, just organising the ins&outs in the control panel the way I wanted them to be organised, and there it goes again, a feedback from the front-ins.
The back-ins are working correctly though. You just switch the mode to hi-z there and that's it. The mic sounds awesome when connected into them. No problems with switching back and forth the modes (mic, line, hi-z).
There's a problem though with the switching the modes for the front-ins in the Control Panel. By default it's hi-z, but when you switch it to line mode the levels become cranked up to the max according to the meter and the level of the pot. When you switch it back to hi-z mode, it switches back to your previously selected levels for hi-z which is around 17db for me, but the actual levels are cranked up according to the meter as if you're still in line mode.
All these software and hardware issues you come across with, while operating with the device are negating all the goods the device has.
Those higher sensitivity front-ins, those cranked levels. Even wheel button is sticking in pressed position. All these is negating all the goods the device has. And I'm a Mac user. Mostly people are writing about the troubles with their software being Windows users.

Never mess with them, if you don't want to be left alone with all the troubles with their buggy devices. Don't be fooled by all those numerous vids they are sponsoring now here and on the other platforms! If you still think of getting some of their products, give them at least a year to solve all the issues.
It is my worst experience ever in purchasing the device of such a high price from such acclaimed company!
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SA
excellent
Sarah A 23.01.2022
My Zen arrived last week and for the time being I'm more than satisfied with the product. I'm usinga Macbook pro-2019 with TB3. I needed half an hour to run through all the activation and install the software. Everything went smoothly, although I had to follow the manual at some point. The only thing I noticed is that I needed to additionally allow the driverto be installed fully in the Mac security settings. I don't know why I had to do this step, but after I installed the driver it worked well.
I've been playing around with the unit for the last several days to see how far it can go - I opened an old project,added the AFX2DAW in Logic on 128 samples buffer and at the same time recorded a vocal with my SM7B and my electric guitar with added guitar effects from the Zen control panel - not a single glitch even though the project was relatively heavy.
I love how the monitor-outs sound, it's a huge improvement for me in comparison to my older interface (don't want to mention the brand). The sound is crisp and the stereo image is much better. I also feel that I can go louder if I want. The preamps are decent and with my previous interface I had to use an additional In-Line preamp with the SM7B, but with the Zen Q, I don't need it anymore.

For now, my experience is more than excellent. Initially I was a bit scared because of some ofthe reviews, but I took a leap of faith and gave it a try because all the specs fit perfectly on what I was looking for.I guess Antelope improved the device a lot since its release because I don't get any of those issues I read on forums. I hope this stays that way because I really like the interface and I plan to get the most out of it.
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3
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Po
A huge number of bugs !
Part of You 28.09.2021
From the moment of purchase (2 months ago) I have been having problems using this card. Not once in ~ 20 have I been able to record without some kind of interference. The guitar might just turn off. The control panel may turn off. New drivers are not installed !!! We have to put the old version, which has even more problems! Support has a day off on Sunday. Answers waited 1-2 days. When working with headphones that are connected to a computer, the latency can spontaneously increase significantly!
At the very beginning, in order for it to function somehow, I had to start the Mac in recovery mode and enter some commands! Moreover, Antelope's support wrote me the wrong code! Because of this, I had to do this operation twice))

The sound is good. There were no problems with Logic.

To be honest, there is a great desire to bring her back. I hope it will be accepted without its own packaging.

I myself do not fully believe in what I write, but this is reality...
Macbook Pro 2019
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CG
I love this thing!
Colum Gray 29.08.2022
Having been away from home recording for the last little bit, I decided a few months ago that I wanted to start my little home studio up again. I was on the market for an interface with thunderbolt and DSP. I liked the specs on the Apollo interfaces a lot, though I didn't like the price tag - not so much of the interface, but more so of the plugins. I like what they have to offer, but then there are other emulations that fit the bill perfectly. I knew that I would quickly start to buy up all their offer, and I needed to keep that particular demon at bay. In comes Antelope Audio. There was a bit of negative press about them, and that made me wary. I also realised that none of it was personal opinion, so I decided to at least give myself the possibility to have an informed 1st hand opinion. After some initial hiccoughs regarding driver software, the interface is a joy, as are the emulations. I actually needed technical support, and their remote support technician was incredible. I can't thank him enough. The device is easy to use and setup - there's just that one issue regarding drivers that they have to get sorted out.
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L
Works well for me
LighthouseKeeper 23.01.2022
I know some people have had issues, but it’s been working well for me on an M1 MacBook Air running Monterey (despite it being officially unsupported).

I did have some difficulty getting getting good levels with direct monitoring / onboard processing, but latency is so low that I mostly just use software monitoring with native plugins - and that works well for me.

I bought this interface after previously having a UA Apollo Solo, because I needed more I/O but still wanted a bus power. Latency is lower on the Zen Q, and my experience has been that it’s been more stable - especially not having to restart with a laptop sleeping and waking.
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G
Could be good interface - if it worked
Gundars 10.08.2021
This spring I moved to a new, M1 based Mac and had to retire my trusty Motu Traveler. I decided to move to new DSP based interface and Antelope just released Zen Q.

Unfortunatelly my experioence has been pure disaster... I ordered it on May 18th and still haven't got working unit that I could review for what it is.

Firs unit that came in June had terrible clicks in monitors whenever there was activity on LCD screen and after communicating with ANtelope support team and Thomann it was diagnosed as faulty batch in production, so I had to send it back.

After a month of waiting for replacement I finally got it out and hurray(!) no clicks. But as soon as I applied guitar cabinet simulation, monitors were almost blown out by terrible crackling noise...

After week of communication Antelope support indicated that HW 5.0 revision of Zen Q has this issue. Since then they haven't been able to fix or remedy this issue and my second unit goes back to Thomann - this time for refund.

Otherwise, it sounded good, but two deffective units in row is beyond coincidence and I would advise to wait until "baby" problems are ironed out before buying this interface.

I also didn't like idea that you have reduce security settings in macOS Recovery mode indicating that, probably, drivers are not fully certified with Apple.
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7
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a
Great Little Interface
auramstudios 26.01.2022
We recently purchased the Zen Q Synergy Core to improve our portable recording setup. Due to needing something portable, the bus power was one of the selling points; specially when adding the flexibility and expansion potential of the ADAT, SDIF, and Line outputs all in its small footprint. With the quality of the mic pre-amps; the ease of use with the touch screen and buttons, it has made recording and producing out and about far easier. The unit also feels sturdy and has great build quality. We are very happy to have added this to our recording setup.
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P
An Amazing portable interface!!!
PipiusCaius 19.01.2022
I had my doubts when everyone suggested me this product from Antelope but I bought it nonetheless and... man! What a surprise!
Super quick to set up and the knobs are so smooth it's almost sexy turning them.
Mic Pres are basically noiseless and the overall experience was extremely positive.


Good
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NT
Great Card
Nick Tzimas 16.02.2022
After going through quite a few sound cards, I think I have reached what I will be keeping for a long time. Very versatile, great sounding. Listening to old projects is really fun. The activation process takes some time but was totally worth it. Mic Pre and models with the included mic sound great also.
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E
An excellent purchase and an easy delivery
EliFri 19.01.2022
Initially I had doubts when placing an order for the Q. I had read some mixed reviews incl. such that were quite negative. However, the issues people mention seem to have only been present in the very first release. I have been using my device for a few days now and I am impressed with the sound quality and the effects that it comes with. The two headphone outs are a very useful addition. So far everything has worked as expected and I have been enjoying making music, while hearing details in my mixes I couldn't notice before! I am using the device on a new M1 MBP. Thanks to Thomann for the super-fast delivery and no-hassle with taxes and the import to the UK. Despite of Brexit you guys have managed to make the order process very simple. Happy customer here!
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Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core